Patricia J. Williams

Columnist

Patricia J. Williams, a professor of law at Columbia University, was born in Boston in 1951 and holds a BA from Wellesley College and a JD from Harvard Law School.

She was a fellow in the School of Criticism and Theory at Dartmouth College and has been an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School Law School and its department of women's studies. Williams also worked as a consumer advocate in the office of the City Attorney in Los Angeles.

A member of the State Bar of California and the Federal Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Williams has served on the advisory council for the Medgar Evers Center for Law and Social Justice of the City University of New York and on the board of governors for the Society of American Law Teachers, among others.

Her publications include Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave, On Being the Object of Property, The Electronic Transformation of Law and And We Are Not Married: A Journal of Musings on Legal Language and the Ideology of Style. In 1993, Harvard University Press published Williams's The Alchemy of Race & Rights to widespread critical acclaim. She is also author of The Rooster's Egg (Harvard, 1995), Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race (Reith Lectures, 1997) (Noonday Press, 1998) and, most recently, Open House: On Family Food, Friends, Piano Lessons and The Search for a Room of My Own (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2004.)

Articles

Taking the Cake (Social Justice, Activism, Media Coverage of the War on Terrorism, Dissent After 9-11, Society)

According to a recent Gallup Poll, 78 percent of white Americans
supported invading Iraq, but only 29 percent of blacks.

Patricia J. Williams

Codes of Etiquette (Society)

Recently, Nilas Martins, principal dancer at the New York City Ballet,
was stopped in Washington, DC, by gun-wielding policemen.

Patricia J. Williams

Snow Falling on Ashes (Global Organizations)

It was a cold, gray morning, chance of flurries. As I braced for the
weather that's buffeted the East Coast recently, I thought: What a
spiraling blizzard of bad policy we face.

Patricia J. Williams

Loose Lips and Other Slips (Society)

It is good news that Total Information Awareness has been blocked, at
least for the moment.

Patricia J. Williams

Code Orange (War on Terrorism, Society)

The whole sad, messy world was on Code Orange alert on the day I left
for England.

Patricia J. Williams

Class Warfare (Class, Racism and Discrimination, Society)

My son collects my change--the random coins that come from little daily
transactions, the pennies, nickels and dimes that build up in my
pockets.

Patricia J. Williams

The Enemy Within (Bush Administration, The Courts, Politics, Society)

"Ask for a lawyer immediately upon your arrest," reads the little
informational card the ACLU hands out to citizens.

Patricia J. Williams

Strange Fruit (Racism and Discrimination, Political Figures, Society)

I have a friend who is the only black person living in his luxury
cooperative building. A few years back, there was a
get-to-know-your-neighbor party.

Patricia J. Williams

Reasons for Doubt (Crime, Police and Law Enforcement, Profiling, Society)

When I was in college, I joined a court-watching project in Roxbury,
Massachusetts. We observed criminal trials, then interviewed judges,
lawyers and witnesses.

Patricia J. Williams

Ask the Relativist (Corporate Responsibility, US Intelligence, Society)

Dear Dr. Madlaw,
As a newly elected member of Congress, I am appalled at the high cost
of living in Washington. What's a hard-working public servant to do?

Patricia J. Williams